It’s clear that Sara Gideon’s trying to have things both ways. She’s (wrongly) claiming that Sen. Susan Collins is beholden to the president, voting with him 94 percent of the time, but then she is critical of the fact that Sen. Collins won’t publicly take sides on his bid for re-election.

The fact is, Sen. Collins is the Republican most willing to vote against President Trump. She works with him when she thinks he is right, and opposes him when she thinks he is wrong. And this is the approach she has used with all of the president’s predecessors.

To quote former New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg: “… if you had Babe Ruth in your lineup, you wouldn’t send him down because you didn’t like the commissioner of baseball. So you may not like Donald Trump, but you should not take Susan Collins out of the Senate simply because you may not like our present president.”

Eliza Woodcock
Portland